New Delhi: The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) recently launched a chatbot for improving customer services. AskDisha (Digital Interaction to Seek Help Anytime), a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI), will answer queries pertaining to various services offered by IRCTC.

“The IRCTC chatbot AskDisha will offer greatly improved and intuitive customer support by answering customer queries pertaining to all aspects of the services that IRCTC provides," IRCTC said in a statement.

A chatbot is a special computer programme designed to simulate conversation with users, especially over the internet.

IRCTC becomes the first government corporation in the country to launch AskDisha, a chat enabled helpdesk service program. It will take the stress out of travel bookings and help provide smooth travel experience to the domestic/foreign traveller on the Indian Railways network. pic.twitter.com/9u16ynrCRV

Here is all that you need to know about the first-of-its-kind initiative by IRCTC.

1. The AI-powered chatbot has been jointly developed by IRCTC and a Bengaluru-based startup CoRover Pvt. Ltd.

2. IRCTC becomes the first and only government corporation in India to launch a chat-enabled helpdesk service program AskDisha.

3.The IRCTC chatbot AskDisha will support several regional languages. It will be voice-enabled and will soon be integrated with the IRCTC Android app.

4. The essential features of AskDisha include ability to quickly answer customer queries, ability to multitask, ability to provide round-the-clock customer support, zero waiting time for the query to be answered, and overall an ability to provide customers with a stress-free experience and overall customer satisfaction.

5. AskDisha is live and it is already available on the bottom right corner of IRCTC’s website. It will soon be available on IRCTC’s Android app. Users can ask questions to the AI chatbot by visiting the IRCTC website.